Thursday, March 25, 2010

Spring Turkeys

Turkeys were infrequent visitors to the feeders through the winter. During the past couple of weeks, a small group has been coming in every day. The older males have not yet begun courtship activities in earnest. In another week of two they’ll be too busy displaying to stop and eat.

The colors of the turkey are at their best right now. The turkey molts all feathers except those that make up the beard. The beard continues to grow throughout the turkey’s life. It could grow to be much longer if the bird didn’t continually step on the end while feeding. Constant trampling keeps the end of the beard neatly trimmed.

The deer destroyed this area during the winter and now the turkeys are smoothing it back out. Turkeys instinctively scratch the ground to uncover food. Even if food is clearly abundant on the surface, the turkey will periodically scratch. Scratching doesn’t hurt my yard, but large turkey flocks have been known to do some serious damage to leaf litter in the woods.

This group is composed of males from one to three years old. If they follow the same pattern as past years, the older males will soon drive the younger out of the group and claim the yard as a display area.

We had new windows put in recently and while they are a massive improvement over the 30 year old windows, they do cause a bit of distortion when trying to photograph through them. I really can’t complain. The old windows were steamed up all winter and when they were clear, the image you saw was like that of an amusement park mirror.

ABOUT BLUE JAY BARRENS

Located in the Bluegrass region of Southern Ohio, Blue Jay Barrens contains excellent xeric habitat inhabited by a wide variety of rare native plant and animal species. Since 1985, this private property has been managed to improve the integrity of the special ecosystems found here. This blog provides information on the current activities at Blue Jay Barrens.

RESPONSE TO COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS BLOG

It’s my intent to share information on current events at Blue Jay Barrens. Unless otherwise noted in the text, all photos were taken by me at Blue Jay Barrens.

Plant scientific names are from Gleason and Cronquist 1991. I realize that some changes in preferred nomenclature have occurred, but this is the principle reference I have been using for flora identification. Knowing this, I believe most people can figure out just what plant I’m talking about.

My discussions of flora and fauna are not intended to be a complete life history. There are plenty of good references for this type of information. I am discussing my personal experiences with plants and animals on this specific property. Any other information I may provide is intended to help you understand the significance of my observations.

MY 3 FAVORITE NATURE BOOKS:

1- Of Mosquitoes, Moths and Mice, by C Brooke Worth.2- Mosquito Safari: A Naturalist in Southern Africa, by C Brooke Worth.3- A Naturalist in Trinidad, by C Brooke Worth.

MY 3 FAVORITE FICTION BOOKS:

1- The Witches of Karres by James H Schmitz2- The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham3- The Windhover Tapes (1st 3 volumes) by Warren Norwood

MY 3 FAVORITE MOVIES:

1- Vanishing Point 1971 with Barry Newman2- Flim Flam Man 1967 with George C Scott - also like the book by Guy Owens3- The Lathe Of Heaven 1979 with Bruce Davison - also like the book by Ursula K LeGuin

MY 3 FAVORITE TV SHOWS:

1- The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan2- Fawlty Towers with John Cleese3- Kolchak: The Night Stalker with Darren McGavin